Wolf's EGO
by Guardian.Ghost
Summary: Von Bach has hired so many Ark Hunters to help him with the Bay Area search for the cell and the matrix, however a personal choice in one Ark Hunter sets forth an adventure that will span the the Bay Area to Defiance. Now it's just a matter of how the journey will play out and who gets met along the way. This is novelized version of the game, rating might bump up.


_I don't remember much before the world went to hell, I actually don't remember why the world went to hell only that when the Voltans showed up, my beloved human race divided and I was no longer part of either side. One side that wanted war with the Aliens that were looking for a new home, and those that couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on and wanted a return to the way things were. It's sad, but when there is nothing left to lose after the Pale Wars and the Battle of Defiance, well it's just a matter of being one of Ark Hunters and making scrip now._

_I just never thought that I would be picked up by the CEO of Von Bach as one of his Ark Hunters and the only former 'Canadian' at that. Better than what my parents went through, I get to explore the new world while my family pines for the remains of the old dying world._

* * *

Walking around the inside of a space ship had always been a dream for Kamryn, ever since the Voltans had shown up on at Earth's doorstep all those years ago. She was just a small child with dreams at such a young age of being an astronaut or scientist, that changed during the Pale Wars and her Grand-Parents were killed in an attack that saw the deaths of several hundred humans and Voltans alike. It was heart breaking, but Kamryn since learned that the world was a hard and dark place and that she had to do what she could to survive alongside her old world loving parents and racist younger brother.

She killed for the first time when she was 16 years old, a group of Raiders had made their way to their home looking for scrip and other items, her parents didn't want to do anything and her brother refused to fight back. Deciding to step up for what was right, Kamryn had taken an old world combat knife that she had taken from her mother and slaughtered the Raiders by playing a murderous game of hide and go seek. After the deaths of the Raiders the fight between Kamryn and her family was so destructive that Kamryn packed up whatever remained of her belongings and left her family behind. Since then she had traveled around by foot and after a year or two traveling on foot she hi-jacked a Nomad Roller from a pair of Raiders that had stopped to take a piss. It was clear that the Roller was 'taken' from an Ark Hunter by the gear that was stowed away on the truck bed. After driving through the badlands and the wastes Kamryn had grown up living a solitary life making few friends and made even more enemies.

As she traveled throughout the years going from city to city she was soon called the Dire Wolf due to her patches on her shoulders of her well-worn jackets. Her pants were somewhat clean canvas black cargo pants, her boots were tied over her pants and they were patched steel toed military boots that had seen some better days. She was wearing a wool black coat under the dark blue-gray military fatigue jacket, what tied it off was the black and grey shemagh from the old world that was around her neck and the hood she had made from the hide of a dead Pow some time pulled down showing off the kept maintained pixie cut.

Von Bach had a few months back posted up signs looking for Ark Hunters to go with him to the Bay Area on what remained of the west coast of North America. Figuring that the man could possibly be a more stable income of scrip to maintain the truck she went to the VBI and was picked up personally by Von Bach. After spending a day or two in the care of the man, Kamryn was implanted with what they called and EGO device. This was something similar to the devices that the Dark Matter were outfitted with, however this was a friendlier version from what Kamryn had been told. With the device in the off mode Kamryn was released and her truck was shipped my ground to the Bay Area and left for her for pick up.

And so while being on the ship was a childhood dream comes true, she wasn't an astronaut and she wasn't exactly welcome on board because of her status as an Ark Hunter. There was some sort of yelling contest as Kamryn turned to look behind her seeing a military officer come towards her calling to her and pointing to the seats.

"You, get to your seat... we are landing in 10."

Half-assedly saluting the man, she looked over the man's shoulder to see Karl Von Bach exchanging a few words with the military guy before coming towards her. He was in the middle of his sentence mentioning the EGO implant when explosions rocked the ship. Stumbling and watching Von Bach hurry for his ejection seat Kamryn ran for hers and sat in between two Ark Hunters, an Irath and a Human.

Everyone was ejecting out and as she slammed on the button fire from an explosion started rocketing towards her.

"Oh shit!" Looking to the button she slammed her fist onto it and the pod closed before it ejected her out on an express elevator down. The force of the slam from when she landed knocked her out and when she next woke up she was staring at the inside of the pod on her side. Her pack that she had traveled with since she was a teen had fallen to her feet and it probably was what knocked her out was her thought process.

There were some sounds on the outside and Kamryn brought a hand up as the pod door was opened and she unceremoniously fell out of the pod onto the ground. There was a hand by her face when she looked up from the dirt, it was an Irathian woman.

"Holy shtako. You're alive."

"Yeah… I am… god my head hurts."

"Name's Cass Ducar. I saw you land… well actually I wouldn't say 'land', more like smashing into the ground. I expected you to be a bowl of soup in there."

"Well thank god I'm not soup, good god my head… I'm Destler, Kamryn Destler."

"Here, let me help you up." Kamryn took the woman's hand and was pulled to her feet, she was unsteady by she soon found her centre of balance again before there was a blue holographic figure behind the Irath and a very sharp pain and ringing in her ears that was developing, Kamryn raised her hands up to head and gripped it.

"Uh what are you doing?"

The pain increased as did the high pitched whine in her ears and her head was screaming in pain, the Irath was terrified of what was going as Kamryn dropped to her knees then her side holding her head in a silent scream, "Whoa! Are you okay? Do you need help? Can you hear me?"

Soon the pain receded and there was the holographic figure kneeing or hovering down by her. Cass was still talking but it was if she couldn't see the figure that was crouched hovering in front of her staring at Kamryn before it disappeared from sight. Kamryn looked around erratically trying to find the figure before Cass snapped her fingers to get Kamryn's attention.

"I'm sure you took more than a bump on the head, so rest. Get your feet under you, I'm going to see if anyone else needs help. Oh and see if you can't arm yourself up a bit. The Locals here aren't known for their charm." The Irath walked off leaving Kamryn laying on her side.

Kamryn laid on the ground for a moment before she gently pushed herself to a stand shaking away the remains of whatever the heck it was that caused her head to feel like a flash bang went off.

"What the hell was that?" Watching Cass walk off Kamryn grunted and rubbed the back of her neck before she felt a tap on her shoulder, whipping around Kamryn swore a blue streak and gripped at her head again shutting her eyes, the voice that she heard was almost jarring. The voice was almost as if it was in her head and not, she could see the holographic figure and hear the voice coming as if from the hologram.

"What the frak…"

"Hello." The thing spoke causing Kamryn to shake her head again and take a step back. There was weird shit and then there was seriously weird shit such as what Kamryn was currently experiencing at the moment.

"Oh. Good. You can hear me now."

"Uhh…"

"I can sense your nervousness, but don't fret. I'm the Environmental Guardian Online Device that was injected into your body. You can just call me EGO." Frowning Kamryn thought about it for a moment and cocked her head to the side before a moment before making a quick face and looking at EGO, that was before her head was rocked again in pain and Kamryn dropped to her knees.

"Please forgive me. I'm having trouble getting all the behaviors activated, so we might experience a few hitches at the beginning, but I'll sort it out. We have lots to go over, so we should start."

"A few hitches?" Kamryn bit out as EGO did what it could to remove the migraine that she now had, a few minutes later the pain and the migraine receded and Kamryn was back on her feet giving an almost glowering look at EGO. Stepping away from the thing Kamryn looked around the crash site and took in the mess that the ship she had previously been on had created. After a few feet away from the crashed pod and her pack pulled onto her shoulders Kamryn saw the glowing form of EGO and started for it.

When she got close enough the figure turned and spoke, "You can interface with me to signal when you're ready to proceed. Let's try it." Kamryn's left eyebrow rose and she stepped up to it nodding, EGO smiled and disappeared only to reappear at her side, "We need to find Mr. Von Bach, but first we'll need to gear up. Von Bach Industries had personal defense technologies aboard the stratocarrier. I've placed a marker on our map where we'll find some." A moment later and there was a HUD that appeared in her vision. Blinking a few times the HUD disappeared and came back as if she was testing to see if it would go away.

"Oh… oh… oh now that's cool. Looking around with the HUD active Kamryn saw in her vision there area that was designated as the small tactical looking map and radar. Following the marker that had been set out for her, Kamryn trudged over broken earth and debris to get a somewhat well off supply crate and knelt down opening the crate, "Excellent! Once you equip that, it will allow me to activate the shield."

Inside was a personal shield from VBI and a bunch more of them, taking one Kamryn stood and attached it to the wide shoulder belt she was wearing and activated it, it synced to the EGO and an icon on her HUD had shown up with her shield becoming active as it encompassed her body, "Shields running."

Kamryn cracked a smile at the hyperness of EGO, it was almost as if she had her own personalized friend that would never leave her alone. That was a nice thought now that Kamryn thought about it, not many people wanted to be friends with the 'Dire Wolf' and those that were, were now too far away.

"We are going to need another weapon option. I'm picking up a signal from a crashed mobile armory. Let's hurry, we need to collect the necessary equipment as soon as possible, so we can start looking for Mr. Von Bach." Checking for the pistol at the back of her waist Kamryn pulled it out and check it for any damages bar the ones she was feeling on her lower back at the moment and saw another marker on her HUD and headed off for it. As she walked towards her intended target kamryn heard rustling in the tall grass and raised her pistol up keeping her eyes and ears peeled. What jumped out in front of her had her take a step back because of the stories and the number of times she had come across the buggers.

"Frakking bugs…" Aiming at the Hellbug Skitterling, Kamryn pulled the trigger and watched with happy satisfaction as the Skitterling exploded into a shower of gore, what she did not expect was the four others that popped out of the grass, however those too were dispatched with an unimpressed look on her face. Once at the marker Kamryn had to raise her gloved hands up to avoid being shocked by the remains of the mobile armory.

"You could have told me this thing was half dead too… shit." Reaching towards the machine Kamryn narrowly avoided the arc of electricity and plucked a crappy and yet usable rifle with a crappy scope. EGO decided then to pop up at her side observing her choice of weapon.

"Nothing beats the accuracy and range of a sniper rifle. One well aimed shot could mean the end of an enemy." Chuckling Kamryn looked down to an ammo cache and opened it taking enough magazines for fifty rounds and put them into the respective holdings at her waist and shouldered the rifle before walking away from the death trap. EGO seemed to be going on about weapons and situations that she tuned out the AI. What brought her attention back was the mention of explosives, with that in mind Kamryn took off at a jog and saw that the explosives crate was not harmed at all. Prying the crate open and taking the frags out Kamryn put four into her pack and attached one to her wide belt strap across her chest. EGO decided to give another minor comment that Kamryn ignored entirely as she looked away and for a way out of the area. However the desire to leave was curtailed by EGO mentioning training and EGO powers. After a somewhat exhausting session both mentally and physically Kamryn had decided to work with two of the four powers, it would take some time to learn to control them for full use but right now all she wanted to do it was leave.

"I'm receiving a signal, I'll patch it through." And just like that there was a sound in Kamryn's ear as if she was wearing a head set, she was about to make a comment about how awesome it was until she heard Cass's voice.

"Can anyone hear me? I need help down here! It looks like the mutants are getting organized for an attack."

"Oh no! We better help her." EGO disappeared from sight as a marker was set up on Kamryn's HUD and she ran putting her pistol away and pulling her 'taken' rifle from her shoulder. Mutants were an issue as Kamryn had found out during an Ark Fall run a few years back, it was how she ended up with the scar on her face that cut down from her hairline across her eye with her eyelid shut that day and slightly down her cheek. They were a ruthless bunch of SOB's in Kamryn's eyes and if Cass needed help she would give it.

Just as Kamryn had made it to the outskirts of the base that Cass was ducking down somewhere at, Kamryn raised her rifle up and used the sight on the rifle to check for the Mutants and 'lo and behold there were three Riflemen and one Marksman. Calming her breathing Kamryn exhaled and pulled the trigger on the Marksman and watched as his head exploded into a shower of gore before dropping, pulling the bolt back and chambering another round Kamryn cleared the rest of the Mutants before running down the hill hearing gun fire and screams for help. Getting to a wall Kamryn heard Cass over coms again.

"We need to shut these dudes down. If we don't, you can forget about finding any survivors."

EGO had showed up behind Kamryn as she was chambering another round into the rifle and sighting down the scope.

"I have the ability to hack into most computer systems. Get to that thorium reactor and I'll see what I can do." Kamryn looked for the reactor and saw that it was dab smack center of the base she was shooting into.

"Fuck…" taking a running start towards the low barricade Kamryn was with in two steps of the concrete divider and she thought about cloaking and the EGO did the rest taking the shield and using it to bend light around Kamryn rendering her invisible to the naked eye. Running to the reactor Kamryn pried the panel open and pulled the keyboard out before EGO used her body to hack into the system. A few moments later and the Reactor was set to overload, EGO returned control to Kamryn's body and just as the cloak dropped so it could recharge. Kamryn blew open the chest of a Mutant with an automatic rifle and watched as it dropped to the ground before swinging her rifle to the next mutant.

"Excellent, I was able to reactivate the fission materials. The reactor will overload and blow this entire base off the map, but we'll need to keep the mutants from disrupting the process."

"Oh well that's great… I'm sitting on a ticking time bomb…" Kamryn chambered another round as she looked to the screen checking the progress, it would be another 120 seconds before it would be good to go. Grumbling and ducking down, Kamryn avoided a bullet meant for her head and spun around taking quick aim at the mutant and shooting him in the chest. Activating her cloak again Kamryn ran up to a Mutant that was about to shoot Cass in the back and swung her rifle using the butt of the gun to knock the mutant out.

As the cloak shut down for another charge up Cass looked to the reactor as the ground below them started to shake.

"What did you do to that thing!? It looks like it's about to explode."

"That's kinda the idea there woman." The ground had shook violently again and the vents started started to spew smoke.

"That thing's about to blow! Lets get out of here!" Cass yelled over the sound of the ground now breaking, Kamryn followed Cass to a wall and tossed her rifle over to the other side before she scrambled up the wall, the explosion knocked both Cass and Kamryn off the wall and to the other side. Landing with a thud on her side, Kamryn grunted feeling as if she broke a few ribs as she was laying on a rock. Moments later and a few unpleasant grinding and popping sounds Kamryn got up and felt her side and didn't find anything broken. It was then that Kamryn remembered the brochure about the EGO device and that it was also a rapid medical unit for injuries as well.

Seeing Cass laid out Kamryn went over to the woman after picking up her rifle and pulling the strap over her neck setting it comfortably on her back. Holding a hand out to Cass, Kamryn watched the Irath who looked up at her with an amazed look on her face taking the hand as she was pulled to her feet.

"Thanks. You have an EGO implant don't you?"

"Yeah I do, still trying to get used to it, it's a little weird."

"That's amazing! First time I've ever seen one in action. You know? I think we're going to make one hell of a team." Kamryn smiled and nodded watching Cass walk to a quad-bike. The Irath jumped on and looked at Kamryn one last time, "A little back up can take you a long way in this crazy place. Anyways I'm heading to the crash site, they're going to need help. I'm sure we'll be in contact… Ark Hunter." The woman saluted and Kamryn returned the gesture before letting out a deep breath and looking behind her at the mess that she had made.

"Well, this is certainly going to be interesting, now to find my damn boss… and my truck…" Heading away from the mess Kamryn headed for the direction that Cass had taken off as EGO spoke up.

"We need to find out if Mister Von Bach survived. I'm picking up signals from a couple of nearby evac seats. Fingers crossed that one of them belongs to Von Bach." Kamryn was now getting weary of EGO and her spunkiness and her desire to find her boss. Kamryn wanted to find her boss too, but this was a bit much however if he could be found than maybe EGO would lessen up a little. Walking towards her first target that was marked Kamyn saw an open evac seat only to see that it was empty.

"This evac seat is empty, I hope that whoever was in there is still alive. Somewhere."

"Same here, were to next?"

"I'm experiencing a lot of interference. Get to an open area so I can scan the valley." Nodding Kamryn pulled the mapping device off her shoulder belt and looked to a high point, seeing one she marked it on her HUD and put the device back and started for the hill. By the time that they made it the hill Kamryn had to slow her pace as EGO appeared beside her taking in the sight.

"We're really lucky to be alive. This crash is… horrifying."

"Horrifying isn't the word I would use exactly, but it sure comes close." The ridge that Kamryn had been standing on over looked the remains of the ship that Kamryn had been on and the firefight that was going on down below, this was turning out to be a bad day and she hoped it could get better at some point. Off to her right and down the hillside was another evac seat and a bunch of mutants looking to go through it.

"Aaaaah shit." Kamryn looked down the ridge and saw an area that she could theoretically slide down, hopping over the ledge Kamryn for her grace was able to land and slide on her rear down the hill, however the final landing was a little rough and she felt her ankle fracture before the EGO implant healed that particular injury.

"Damn it, well at least I know that if I get hurt with minor stuff I can be healed." Getting up Kamryn shouldered her rifle and pulled her pistol from her holster and walked up to the Mutants quietly. The mutants had already started peering through what remained of the wreck when one of them saw brain matter before the gunshot splatter the ground, two consecutive shots later the group of mutants were dead.

"What a mess.." kicking the bodies away and collecting the meager scrip they had in their pockets and their hands, EGO popped up again started looking about.

"Oh no. This person didn't make it out alive, I'm detecting a fading EGO signal, which means this must have been a fellow ark hunter." The AI was hovering above the dead burned body of the hunter, kneeling down and looking at the remains Kamryn stood and looked around the inside of the evac pod was burned as well, nothing remained unscathed.

"Okay, get us somewhere else, gotta find Von Bach yeah?"

"I'm receiving several Von Back industry signals. One of them has to be him! Let's hurry and check them out."

"Alright, alright hold your horses." Kamryn looked at her HUD and watched as four signals popped up, it wasn't too far off and so with that in mind Kamryn took off as a jog headed for the crash site. Once there it was a matter of not getting shot at and looking through the wreck remains to see if any of the markers were Von Bach. At the first body Kamryn bend down and tried to shift through the remains to find anything tangible until EGO spoke up.

"This is the head of the security team. If he didn't make it, then what hope does Mr. Von Bach have?" Kamryn frowned at the AI and stood up looking for the correct marker for the second body. This body had debris covering it forcing Kamryn to kneel down and pry the piece of metal off, however in the process the top portion of the head fell to the side from the remains. This body wasn't as badly damaged and Kamryn saw a lab coat with a nametag on it, it was a woman.

"My DNA scan says this is not Mr. Von Bach, but VBI employee number 130. That's not good, she was extremely important to this expedition." Shaking her head and standing Kamryn cleared her hands of the dirt and head towards the third maker on her HUD. This one was bad, Kamryn had to grit her teeth and know that there would be no way this was Von Bach, but it was an underling. The body was torn to pieces and it didn't help that the mutated flies were already swarming the remains.

"This is a deceased Von Bach Industries Technician. I fear the worst, we have lost everyone."

"Ey, ey, take it easy, we don't have his body so the man might not be dead yet." The EGO was an emotional one from the way she was talking, and if it was any sort of consolation the rest of Von Bach's Ark Hunters had to put up with it unless they all got different voice or personality for their EGO.

_God I hope she's the only one…_

Moving to the final signal and seeing the drop pod and the goo that constituted as a body, Kamryn had to swallow whatever she had eaten on the ship for breakfast as she looked away hearing EGO go over her findings.

"This is not Mr. Von Bach's body. This is a tragedy, I am estimating the death toll to be at least 300. Whether Mr. Von Bach is alive or dead, he doesn't appear to be near the crash site," Stepping away from the body that was now considered soup she headed for a hill side to avoid the gun fire and the people that were doing a rescue mission, "I think we are going to need some assistance in finding him… I'm receiving an S.O.S from Captain Grant now, I'll patch it through."

"_Repeat. All unarmed and injured survivors, get to cover and stay put. We will find you. All combat capable survivors, report to the emergency HQ at the New Freedom rally point. A-SAP."_ At the end of that and just as a marker made itself apparent on her HUD, Kamryn heard Cass's voice through the coms.

"Hey Ark Hunter, did you get that E-Rep message? Meet me at the rally point, I want to know why E-Rep's here. Let's find the man in charge." The communication was cut off and Kamryn hiked her way to the top of the small hill to see the New Freedom HQ that had been set up.

"Welp, time to see this Captain Grant."

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**A/N: So I've decided to novelize the game because I am that bored. No I do not own Defiance or the story, no I do not own the characters save MY Ark hunter, and as always this is posted RAW. Also as a side no. Most of the conversations come from the game itself with the exception of some scenarios were there will be stuff that is off the books. ^-^ read and review and enjoy!**

**Oh at some point I am sending my character to St. Louis Defiance cause why not?**


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